Ryan forcibly pushed aside further thoughts on his family and resumed his hike to the homestead. He now chose to keep to the more open areas of the veld, leaving the tracks heading along the fence. It wasn’t the shortest route to the homestead, requiring several meandering detours, but considering his experience with the Kudus he preferred the increased visibility. Better to neutralise any chances of running across mutated animals in the close confines of the bushier areas where he wouldn’t see them coming.
The remainder of the hike proved uneventful, Ryan kept his head on a swivel and stayed well clear of any game he spotted, even avoiding smaller, single animals. Staying in the open areas also kept him mostly clear from possible avian threats, which would not have been the case going through bushier areas generally frequented by a greater variety of birdlife.
Approaching the homestead from the north, he entered through the citrus garden, taken the shortest route to the kitchen at the back of the house. The chicken which usually were pecking around the area at this time were nowhere in evidence, the chicken coop closed and ominously quiet. Before Ryan reached the house he heard the shouting match on the front lawn under the Jacaranda tree. Katrina, the head chef was berating the gathered group of farmworkers: “Die Baas is weg, Mevrou is weg, Oom Piet is weg en die kinders is weg, ons moet vir Klein Baas kry, hy sal weet!” Josefina, the oldest person still present shouted back: “Dis die duiwel se ding! Dis die duiwel se ding!”
Stepping around the corner he considered that Katrina’s statement confirmed that his uncle and aunt were gone and that the children of the various families working on the farm had also disappeared. He did hope that they were indeed put into stasis and could later be initiated and had not been killed outright. Ryan didn’t trust the System, or its administration, but so far everything in the welcoming message had panned out. He assumed that Josefina’s reference to a thing of the devil could only mean the Interface and the HUD and sighed inwardly in frustration. He would have some explaining to do and try to quell the rising tension he could observe.
African tribal cultural norms were still ingrained in native rural communal culture and even if Johannes, Petrus and Gabriel probably could and did explain the implications of the Interface to the “elder” folks, the three would not have been listened to, being the youngest present. He silently scoffed at the thought that 44 could now be considered “elder”. Notwithstanding the fact that Ryan was relatively young too, at 23 years of age, the group would probably listen to and accept his explanations, as he was considered an authority figure, the little boss, or Klein Baas.
Josefina screeched “Klein Baas” and rushed to hug him. As his part-time nanny when he visited the farm as a toddler, she had always been adamant that she was damn well allowed to hug him whenever she pleased. Gently disentangling himself, he ordered everyone to settle down and questioned her if this was everyone still remaining on the farm as he was not quite certain of the ages of every child or worker. Katrina, listening in, confirmed that it was everyone. Ryan did not deal well with any social gatherings, groups of more than 5 people made him uncomfortable and now 19 people were staring at him attentively. Nonetheless, he understood the need to step up and steeled himself.
Ryan first quietly asked Johannes, Petrus and Gabriel whether they had any RPG or MMORPG playing experience, moving closer to them as he did. Johannes, the smartest and apparent spokesperson of the three, indicated that he had none but that Petrus and Gabriel had played quite a bit while they were still attending school in town. He quietly considered this before he raised his voice and spoke to the group as a whole. He explained that the Interface was not evil, or sent from god, simplifying and saying that it was like a smartphone screen and the icons were apps.
The world had changed and a higher power, or aliens, had decided to treat Earth and humanity like a game, and installed the Interface in their heads, he continued. Going on, he impressed on them the need to learn how to work with the Interface, recounting his observations of the Kudu and his deductions that any wildlife would become dangerous and that they would need to be able to defend themselves, which the interface facilitated.
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He insisted that Josefina, Katrina, Johannes, Petrus and Gabriel follow him to the office so they could discuss the possible ways forward. Josefina and Katrina, now leaders of this little community, quietened everyone down and followed the four youngsters into the house. Ryan re-considered and instead of the office led them to the sitting room, which had more room and where the seating was actually comfortable. His aunt would have been scandalised that he invited the staff to the sitting room, but well, she wasn’t here, not anymore, he added bitterly.
Starting off with his intention to leave for Windhoek, the capital, to check up on his family, he confirmed that he intended to assist them with establishing themselves at the homestead first, although he wouldn’t and couldn’t stay long. He recounted his experiences with the Interface, the boys followed attentively while Josefina and Katrina looked confused. Ryan impressed on them the need to consult with the boys on any system related questions, they had the necessary background to eventually understand and apply the Interface to benefit the community. When Ryan paused, Johannes asked how Ryan had identified the leopard’s level. Acknowledging the importance of the question, Ryan explained how he acquired Inspect and Analyse, stressing how important he considered the two skills.
Although he was initially hesitant to do so, he requested that the community move into the main house, which would consolidate the group and provide better security than their scattered cottages. Josefina and Katrina were equally hesitant to accept this, but eventually agreed. Ryan also decided, keeping the decision to himself for the time being, to open the weapons safe and distribute the firearms to the group before he left. He would need to consult with Johannes before doing so however to determine who could best use the limited amount of firearms and ammunition.
Johannes also suggested that the group remain at the farm until at least achieving Level 15, suggesting it would be safer to travel to the Ascension Obelisks in Windhoek together with some strength to their name. Not understanding why they had to travel to Windhoek for the Ascension Obelisk he asked Johannes and was informed that, according to the Help Menu, Ascension Obelisks where only ported to population centres exceeding 50 000 people and Windhoek was the closest. Ryan then wholeheartedly agreed with Johannes’ assessment, but said that he was uncertain as to the impact of Class selection and how it would affect individual strength.
They continued discussing the possible implications of initiation and the system for a while. Johannes stressed that the capital, with its population of more than 300 000 people and entirely reliant on logistics to sustain food requirements, would be a disaster in the making. Ryan had refused to consider this particular problem so far, but now found himself forced to concur with Johannes’ assessment. He was concerned for his sole remaining family and the need to find them was becoming increasingly urgent. His mind painted horrific pictures of anarchy, cannibalism and straight on war occurring in major cities around the world, so reliant on the logistics infrastructure to sustain their population.
Capable, smart and with an absolutely powerhouse of a girlfriend, Ryan was certain that William would find a way to survive if not thrive. Still, he worried about his little brother. He also worried about the issue of finding him, it was unlikely William would elect to remain in his flat in the apartment complex. It was also unlikely he would move to their parent’s home, William would probably make the smart choice and leave town for the immediate future. Ryan just hoped his brother would have the foresight to leave him some sort of message that would enable him to follow him wherever he went.
Returning to the present he announced that it would be best if they further investigated the Interface, paying particular attention to the Help Menu. He suggested that Petrus and Gabriel assist the remainder of the group with setting up the Interfaces and explaining the basics, while he and Johannes would focus on gathering more information. Meanwhile, Katrina and Josefina were to convince everyone to move to the main house, co-ordinate the move and see to gathering all non-perishable foodstuff. Any meat in the freezers should also be cured. They were also to see if they could fix the irrigation system for the old cool room, which operated on evaporative cooling and would help them store perishables for longer.
So instructed and with the understanding that there was probably a need to get everything done sooner rather than later, everyone but Johannes excused themselves. Ryan sighed in relief, people were exhausting. Johannes, who knew him well enough, smiled. He then indicated that he would explore the Help Menu. Ryan agreed, stating that he would assign his Stats and so gather more information. Before he did, Ryan first entered the Help Menu and did a search for Stats. The results returned were beyond extensive.